This is the embarrassing moment Nigel Farage gives a speech in front of hundreds of empty seats at a high-profile Republican Party event.

Just 40 minutes before the Euro MP stepped on to the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) more than 1,400 delegates had provided a rock concert-like atmosphere as Governors Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal delivered rousing right-wing speeches.

But as Farage took to the platform at the Gaylord Conference Centre in Maryland he was greeted by more than a thousand empty seats as America’s Republicans choose to enjoy the canapés rather than stomach the Ukip leader’s speech.

Before his arrival his team had expected “a celebrity style reception” with one organiser calling him CPAC’s “rock star”.

But his 20-minute slot hardly drew applause as he talked about immigration while critiquing the policies of his Republican hosts.

Earlier in the day he was overheard joking with his team about the need to avoid any controversy while in America. “We must make sure we appeal to the homosexual community too,” he mocked.

But hours later, wedged between former vice presidential hopeful Palin and America’s notorious gun lobbyists, Farage greeted those that had stayed saying: “I’m here today as the leader of an insurgent political force in the United Kingdom.

Mirror man Chris Bucktin sits in one of the hundreds of empty seats (Image: Roland Leon)

“A political force that has taken on the establishment and rocked them to the back of their heels.”

His speech to around 200 of the delegates however did little to match up to his billing.

He earned a few cheers from a small but boisterous crowd for his stance against unrestricted immigration on both sides of the Atlantic although the floor fell silent when he attacked America’s conservative politics and policies.

He said Republicans were doing a poor job of attracting the working-class voters who had once abandoned the rival Democratic Party to help Ronald Reagan be elected to the White House twice in the eighties. “I accept that I’m a foreigner, and I don’t want to meddle,” he said.

“But if the Republican Party is going to win the next presidential election, I think the Republican Party needs to get the kind of people voting for it that were voting for it 30 years ago.

“Reagan Democrats, people that worked hard, people who were patriotic people, who aspired and wanted to get on. I don’t think, at the moment, the Republican Party is attracting those kinds of people.”

His views were met with little response while a handful of people walked out.

The UKIP leader then questioned the British and US military campaigns in the Middle East since the Twin Tower attacks in 2001.

“Every time we get involved, we’re told by our leaders it makes the streets of London and New York safer,” he said.

“Far from doing that, we’ve actually inflamed and stoked the fires of militant Islamism by doing what we have done.”

Earlier in the day Farage, who following a day of disaster for the Government on immigration was questioned why he had flown to Washington, turned down a publicity picture with Palin.

However as he anxiously took care to avoid controversy on his fleeting trip to the States, the move backfired as hundreds streamed out Potomac Ballroom after she had finished talking.

Hours after leaving the stage Farage was scheduled to fly back from Washington’s Dulles airport to Heathrow for Ukip’s two day Spring conference in Margate, Kent.

However despite falling flat in the States the prospective MP was given a well timed boost after the latest polls placed him on course to win a place in Parliament as he battles for the Thanet South seat.